6122-1959

Talk about guitars, amps and other gear.

Re: 6122-1959

Postby guitarchuck » Sun Nov 30, 2014 11:40 pm

gmoseley wrote:That headstock does look more like a '59 but the body width and size looks like a '58 to me. And that bridge is a weird looking animal (??) He says it has a "slightly wider neck", I wish he had measured it at the nut with calipers and included that in the description.

G.M.

That guitar in the craigslist ad, is obviously a 58 reissue with a replacement adjustomatic, or Nashville style bridge. He has his description wrong listing it as the 59. It looks like a standard 58 re-issue with the bridge replaced to me.
guitarchuck
 
Posts: 988
Joined: Mon Aug 16, 2010 9:28 pm

Re: 6122-1959

Postby BirdofParadise » Fri Dec 05, 2014 12:16 am

Thanks to everyone who replied. The poster has corrected his advert. Mike
BirdofParadise
 
Posts: 53
Joined: Thu Apr 18, 2013 2:36 pm

Re: 6122-1959

Postby David Elliott » Sat Jun 27, 2015 9:04 pm

Norm wrote:A couple of things here...
Two things motivated Chet to jump ship on Gretsch. One was their deteriorating quality control. When they moved the factory out of Brooklyn the experienced guitar making team did not make the move to the new southern factory. Consequently Baldwin had huge issues trying to get a stable product produced.

The second thing was Gretsch's refusal to engineer or adopt what essentially was the Kirk Sand electrical classic design.

Finally, there wasn't one particular Gibson that Chet tinkered like he did his '59. He tried to get Gibson to adopt some Ray Butts pickups but they showed no interest. If there had been a favorite unit Paul Yandell would have certainly spoken out about it.

There is one Gibson CG on page 149 in the MAMG book that looks to have had more work done on it (and more use) than others. It is a battle scarred veteran using violin fine tuners on all six strings but apparently no other modifications.

I think, once he finally got his wish for a solid piece running down the body, he was disappointed. He obviously had issues with the weight of it which is why they switched to compressed balsa for the center section.

Chet had a deep sense of honor. He had signed endorsement contracts so when he recorded or played TV and personals he used the products he endorsed. The DelVecchio was "forgiven" because it was such a unique, non competitive instrument. He used a Telecaster with a B-bender on one recording but, for the most part he finished his career honoring his contracts.
At that point in his career he was favoring the classical strung guitars for many reasons and his electric classic line was a very well thought out guitar I think. It's too bad Gibson chose to abandon it because now the older instruments are showing need of servicing in the pickups that is not easily available but that's another story altogether.

As for both Country Gentleman instruments being fine guitars this is certainly true. They both represent examples of two major companies top-of-the-line instruments.

But there is something to be said for that first wide necked. single cutaway Gretsch 6122 that he got in 1959 and still had when he passed on. He tinkered and used it pretty much exclusively for recording for the rest of his tenure with Gretsch. That guitar, in those hands, recorded in those years, is imbedded in our musical memories. The Gibsons just don't come close to it in the terms of tone.

Here's a thought...
Had Gibson decided to sign Chet in 1954 instead of Gretsch I think we would have seen a very different guitar evolve...something much closer to the D'Angelico.

Something we will never know, of course.


Hi Norm,
Don't get on here much anymore, since they've adopted the "delayed" broadcast for posts! :roll:

Regarding the reason for Chet's switching from Gretsch to Gibson...I think that Gretsch wasn't interested in developing the forerunner of the CE (Classic Electric), rather than the 'Kirk Sand' nylon electric...which came about a couple years later. The Gibson 'CE/CEC' of course is an entirely different guitar electronically, as well as being a solid body instrument...

David
David Elliott
 
Posts: 405
Joined: Mon Aug 16, 2010 8:43 pm
Location: Simi Valley, California

Re: 6122-1959

Postby albertgen » Thu Aug 13, 2015 8:47 pm

I always liked Chet's idea for a thinner guitar with the Gibson CG, changing to a lighter center block was also a good idea. Al
albertgen
 
Posts: 310
Joined: Tue Aug 17, 2010 11:39 pm

Previous

Return to Guitars and Equipment

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 23 guests

cron